How to Use Instagram Hashtags and Keyword Update for Local Business [Episode 153]

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Instagram hashtags have been confusing for years, and if you’re a local business, they’ve often felt more annoying than helpful. The good news? Instagram has quietly shifted how hashtags and keywords work, and in this episode, I break down exactly what that means for clinics and brick-and-mortar businesses.

This episode is short, practical, and meant to simplify things, not add more to your plate. If you’ve been unsure whether hashtags still matter, how many to use, or how keywords actually fit into your content now, this is your update.

What Actually Changed With Hashtags on Instagram

Hashtags aren’t gone, but they no longer work the way most people were taught.

Instagram is relying more heavily on keywords, context, and behavior signals than on stuffing posts with dozens of hashtags. That means captions, on-screen text, and even what you say out loud in Reels matter more than ever.

For local businesses, this is a good thing. It shifts the focus away from chasing reach and toward being understood by the right people in the right place.

Keywords Matter More Than You Think

Instagram is functioning more like a search engine.

When someone searches for a service, symptom, or location, Instagram is pulling from:

  • Your bio
  • Your captions
  • On-screen text
  • What you talk about consistently

This means you don’t need to game the system. You need to be clear. Using the words your patients would actually search for, paired with your location and services, helps Instagram connect your content with people who are already looking for what you offer.

What This Means for Local Clinics

Instead of overthinking hashtags, focus on:

  • Writing captions like a human, not an algorithm
  • Naming what you do clearly and consistently
  • Using fewer, more relevant hashtags (or none at all, depending on the post)
  • Prioritizing clarity over cleverness

This update rewards businesses that explain what they do well and show up consistently, not those chasing trends or viral tactics.

Wrapping It Up

This shift doesn’t require a full strategy overhaul. It simply asks you to be more intentional with your words.

If Instagram has felt confusing lately, this episode will help you reset your approach and move forward with a simpler, more effective system that actually supports local growth.

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The Holistic Marketing Simplified Podcast is brought to you by Holistic Marketing Hub, our hybrid program that supports you with personalized coaching, caption templates, and virtual classrooms. In this program, we teach health and wellness professionals how to fish, but also bait their hook!

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Episode Transcript

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Hello my friends and welcome back. Today's episode is going to be all about the latest things you need to know about hashtags and keywords on Instagram. There was recently like a pretty big change, which I'm actually very excited about. So I'm gonna keep this intro short and try to keep the episode as short as possible.

Ha ha. Alright, let's dive in.

Hey, welcome to Holistic Marketing Simplified. This podcast boils down to the fact that we wholeheartedly believe that more humans need to know about holistic health solutions. And you didn't go to school to learn how to be a full-time content creator and show up on Instagram and do all of this marketing stuff all day, every day.

So let's come hanging out while we chat. All things ease in your marketing and my goal is that you shift your mindset around your marketing from a quote should to a, I get to more dream patients and clients. Yes, please. Hey, I'm Dr. Abby chiropractor in Apple Valley, California, and I listen to the Holistic Marketing simplified podcast.

Trust me, you'll love it too. All right, so I get questions about hashtags a lot, and this is actually a lesson I'm now updating or have updated inside of the holistic marketing Hub portal, and for my content Sprint group coaching students. And there has been a pretty big update with hashtags on Instagram recently, and it's actually something that I think makes it so much easier and I'm excited about it.

If you're listening now, hi. And she's like, I just realized that your last, that you weren't Molly K like with like the letter K and then hill. I am Cahill, C-A-H-I-L-L. When I first met my husband, I was like, how do you pronounce your name? My maiden name was Alexander, so I had like, never heard the word Cahill, never heard the last name Cahill before.

So yes, C-A-H-I-L-L. That's me. Like maybe I should buy the domain like Cahill, like the letter K people can find. All right. I hope y'all have an amazing rest of your day. Hey, if you haven't left me a review yet, would you please do that? I've started tracking them and I just appreciate it when you do it.

If you leave me a review, send me a screenshot and I'll send you a little free gift. Okay. Love you. Bye. Thank you for listening to Holistic Marketing Simplified, and hey, you know how every podcaster at the very end of their episode asks you to rate and review their podcast? Well that's because it's super important.

These podcasts take a lot of time and heart and effort to produce, to bring you free information. So in order for me to be able to continue doing that, we need more people to find out about the show. So if you could please just take like two minutes out of your very busy day to leave me a rating and share this on your Instagram stories and tag at Molly a Cahill.

That's. C-A-H-I-L-L-I would greatly, greatly appreciate your support. I know your time is valuable and I can't wait to see you in the next episode.

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